Conventional digital video broadcasting systems operate by hosting individuals' video clips on a central server computer, and serving them to client computers for viewing upon request. News clips, video conferences and consumer videos are all distributed from a central host server.
Use of a central server for broadcasting video clips has several drawbacks. The owner of the video clips has limited control over the broadcast of his clips, and who is permitted to view them. Updating or replacing video clips requires upload of updated or replacement clips, and issuance of instructions to the server to remove the old clips and post the new ones. Seemingly simple tasks such as renaming or reorganizing of video clips requires sending accurate instructions to the server, and often such tasks only take effect after a time period such as 24 hours. Preferred ways of screening the public from viewing private video clips are generally not possible. Upload of large video clips to a central server can be very time consuming. Original video clips hosted on a central server can be pirated.